Three days after firing the first coach he ever hired, Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant traveled to Detroit in April to see an old college buddy. A scheduled 90-minute dinner meeting extended more than six hours, but this wasn’t a reunion weekend of nostalgia and reminiscing, this was the beginning of another remarkable journey between close friends.

Grant and Mike Brown were best friends and teammates in college, they attended each other’s wedding and they held each other’s children as newborns, all while carving out their own paths across the NBA. Twenty years ago, no one could’ve possibly predicted this.

“They’re good guys, talented guys, but to say you could envision all this falling into place the way it has is impossible,” said Hank Egan, who coached both of them in college and remains close with them today. “I was as shocked as anybody else.”